The trade deadline approaches and Lee Stempniak mentally packs his bags and waits for the phone call that will tell him where he’ll be moving next. It’s not that he’s Chicken Little worried that the sky is falling. He’s just realistic.

Stempniak, an 11-year veteran for the New Jersey Devils, has played for eight different teams. He’s been traded four times, including at each of the last two deadlines. He might not be at the level of Mike “Suitcase” Sillinger, who was traded a record nine times, but he’s already got more jerseys than there are days of the week.

“Change is not always bad,” said Stempniak, a pending unrestricted free agent who leads the New Jersey Devils with 41 points in 62 games. “I’ve been through it before three times. I’ve always sort of prepared for it.”

While Stempniak used to get anxious around this time of year, it’s a little different this season. For one, the Devils headed into Friday night’s NHL games one point out of the final wild card spot, meaning they are probably buying rather than selling assets. And more importantly, his wife is not pregnant this time around.

Two years ago, Stempniak was traded from the Calgary Flames to the Pittsburgh Penguins days after his wife gave birth to twin girls. A year later, he missed their first birthday when he was traded from the New York Rangers to the Winnipeg Jets.

“They were born six weeks early and five days before the trade deadline,” said Stempniak. “(Former Penguins GM Ray Shero) was great, he let me go home like four times in the three months that I was there to visit. But it certainly wasn’t easy.”

Leaving your family and living out of a hotel in a new city can be a difficult part of being traded. But it’s the not the hardest part, said Stempniak. No, it’s joining a team that has been together all year and trying not to mess things up.

“The first time it happened when I was traded to Toronto, I was completely shocked by it,” said Stempniak, who scored 11 goals and 31 points in 61 games with the Maple Leafs in 2008-09. “I wouldn’t say I’m shy, but I’m sort of a quiet guy before I get to know people, so I’m not going to command a room full of strangers. I didn’t want to step on anyone’s toes and didn’t know what to expect. I was a little cautious and it hurt me.”

Since then, the 33-year-old winger has learned to become more assertive. You have to be a chameleon, he said, and quickly adapt to the team’s structure — even if that means playing a different role than you might be used to.

“You realize that you got traded to a team that wants you and wants you to do well,” said Stempniak. “They want you to play to your strengths as an individual. Jumping in with both feet really helped me out so much more.”

While Stempniak is usually considered a depth player rather than a gun-for-hire, he scored 14 goals in 18 games after getting traded to Phoenix from Toronto at the 2010 deadline. That was the same amount he had scored in 62 games with the Leafs.

Two years ago, he had an opportunity to play with Sidney Crosby. And after sitting out as a healthy scratch with the Rangers, he scored six goals in 18 games with the Jets.

Still, fitting in is not without its challenges. Adding a player at the deadline theoretically should make the team better, but it does not always work out that way. Unless a team is replacing an injured player, the incoming player is often taking ice time away from someone else. That can have a butterfly effect, both on and off the ice.

“You believe you’re getting better and you believer you’re getting deeper, but there’s a certain chemistry that’s been there for 60 games in that locker room that you’re changing,” said Detroit Red Wings general manager Ken Holland, whose team went 8-10-2 after adding Erik Cole and Marek Zidlicky at the deadline.

“I don’t think our team played as well after we made the deals, but I don’t think it had anything to do with those players. It’s just that the chemistry changes.”

And yet, teams will one again mortgage the future and trade prospects and draft picks for depth players that they believe will get them over the hump. It is why former GM Brian Burke believes more mistakes are made on trade deadline day than the rest of the year. And why Stempniak, despite playing on a contender and having his best season in years, is not 100% sure he won’t be moved once again.

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